Heading For Little Rock! Maverick

This was a very challenging week to say the least. Prior to heading out on Monday Morning, I checked every available source I could find regarding the roads in ohio. They said they were all open and fine. The state routes near my house were clear so off I went. I only had about 50 miles to go but it ended up seeming like a much longer trip. Not far from my house, the roads became worse. They eventually were all ice. I was going about 30 miles per hour just taking my time. I got to precision strip and they let me in right away. Their parking lot could have doubled as an ice skating rink. After I got unloaded, I sat for about an hour before I sent in a message asking if I should just head to a truck stop as I was out in the middle of no where. I got no response, but shortly thereafter, I received a work assignment to head to colulmbus ohio to columbus coatings going to Murfreesboro Tn. My pick up time was 16:00 and it was 15:00. On a summer day, I could not have made it. So I sent a message and said "doubtful I will make pickup time."
So I headed on out. Now that I am mt, I can hardly get any traction at all. I barely made it out of the parking lot and down the street. When I got out on the main road I was only going 25mph. I then get a qualcom message asking for my eta. So I called my fm and told him I have no idea. I then asked him if the csr's have any clue on what is going on in this part of the country. That I was on solid ice roads and just barely able to make head way. He said he did not know the roads were in that condition. So I kept on going. I had a J B Hunt day cab behind me mock me because I was going too slow, yet he would not try to pass me.
I made it down to Columbus Coatings and after about 3 hrs I was on my way. I made it down to the rest area at Florence Ky around 22:00 and called it a day.
There were no issues making it the rest of the way down to Murfreesboro and got unloaded in a good amount of time. When I woke up I already had a preplan to go to Logan Aluminum for a 18:00-23:59 pick up going to Ft Atkinson Wisconsin. So as soon as I was mt I went and got fuel and headed on over to Russellville Ky. I arrived at about 16:30 and they told me it was going to be awhile and what channel did I want to monitor. I also gave them my phone number in case I wanted to take a nap. She suggested that I take a nap. The parking lot was jammed pack and more trucks were arriving every minute. I ended on being blocked in my two other trucks, but figured I would deal with it when the time came. Around 18:00 I went to bed as I had no idea when they would call me. I woke up at midnight and then went right back to sleep. At 0300 there was banging on my door. There were two accidents in the lot and they wanted me to move. Someone hit another truck so bad it had to be towed and a truck backed into a ditch and had to be pulled out. So they asked me to go to gate 4 and park on the road. When I got there it was almost full. After about an hour they called me and told me to come on down. I had no clue where I was and the lady got a bit snippy me. I finally figured out how to get to the scale. When I got in there she apologized and I said no problem.. Sat in line for about another hour before I got loaded. Got two aluminum skidded coils and got all of my straps on the front coil, had him place my tarp on the front coil and headed out to the tarping area. There was another Mav there and he says he would help me if I would help him....I said no problem. We also helped another driver get his taps rolled out....he was not a mav driver by the way....I will help anyone.
My plan was to make it all the way up to the receiver since it had to be there today....a jit shipment. I had enough time due having sat for over 11 hours to get loaded.
I took Indiana route 133 and it was great until I hit all of the ice. It was horrible. When I got up to rt33 I saw that it had been cleaned off so I headed west towards effingham. The roads were a bit better, but not much. When I got to effingham, there was a railroad crossing that was malfunctioning and would only let a vehicle or two through every 5 to ten minutes. So it took 30 minutes to get through that. When I got on I57, it was like a war zone from the storm on monday. I have never seen so many cars and trucks wrecked or just off the road stuck. The road was cear so I had no problem making it to WI. I stopped in South Beloit and fueled and then headed to the receiver. It was -12. Took my time and got untarped and even got it rolled up and put away in the box. I had a preplan to Pick up in Elk Grove Village Il so I knew where I was going.
Got unloaded right away and went down to the K Mart at the end of the street and parked. Due to the temp, I idled the truck to make sure nothing froze up. Set my alarm for 0500 and went to bed. At about 0330 I woke up at the sound of the truck shutting down. I jumped up and looked and all the lights were flashing and I had a message. It said high soot build up and to do a parked regen. I pushed the regen button and nothing happened. Did it a couple of more times and still nothing. So I got out the manual and read how to do it. You have to push it in for 5 seconds and it then takes off. After 30 minutes it went back to normal idel and it was done. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous when it first shut down, thinking something terrible had gone wrong.
Along the way I had to turn the truck batteries off because I was getting the transmission light coming on....
So I headed out towards chicago and of course got stuck in all the traffic going into it. Found the place and had to wait about 45 minutes until a dock freed up but once in there was no rush to hurry up and get out of there which was nice. I got 8 skidded coils. This load was going to Ryerson in Shelbyville Ky. Got stuck in traffic on I294 and I 80 before I got to I 65. Just above Indy it started to snow real heavy. I stopped in Whiteland In at the flying J and fueled and took a shower. I went on down and spent the night at the receiver.
Got untarped in the morning and was unloaded by 0800. I sat there until after 12:00 to get a load. The csr was on vacation for this area and no one was looking out for the area. My fm contaced his boss and I had a load in ten minutes. Picking up in Rockport Indiana going to Walbridge Ohio.
Got a single coil 48020 lbs. I had enough time to make it home on Friday, but would not have arrived until almost midnight, so I just stopped in Florence Ky. For some reason my telephone, which I use as my alarm clock did not reset to est, so I woke up an hour later....oh well.
Made it home and will head out monday morning for a 11:30 appointment. I am having issues with my trailer right side marker lights. They were dim and then went out all together. So after I unload on Monday, I will head over to the Petro and have them fixed.
Hope you all have a safe weekend!

 

I am glad that it is helpful. Sometimes I get lazy and do not post, but then I remember how much this forum helped me understand what trucking is all about. But even then, you have to experience it first hand to really appreciate it...lol

 

The car is loaded and I am just waiting to up to the Pilot. After I deliver I will need to go over to the Petro near Toledo and get the marker lights on the left side of the trailer fixed. Hope everyone has a great week!